The world's week in pictures

The world's week in pictures

Foreign governments voiced growing alarm Thursday over the safety of their citizens seized by Islamists at a gas plant in the Algerian desert, where a dramatic rescue operation left many hostages dead. As the families of the hostages and the countries involved endured a tense wait for definitive news from the raid on the In Amenas plant, local officials said Algerian special forces had taken control of the residential compound at the complex, where most of the hundreds of hostages were being held, but were still surrounding the gas facility which had not yet been secured.